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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation Review

Well, well, the franchise that seems to never want to go away, at least in the slasher category. This time out, the increased budget is somewhat evident as the crisp and solid camera movement ties well with the dark and scary points of this film. Of course, the movie I'm reviewing is the 1990's entry into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Series; Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation.

The movie moves forward immediately on some stereotypical stuff, a bad night at the prom. There are two major names immediately tied to this film, as you watch it. The first is a Renee Zellweger and the second of course romantic comedy veteran, Matthew McConaughey. Now, these two actors are not the cream of the crop of actors that you can get in such a film, but like Jennifer Aniston in Leprechaun, this film needed some fresh meat and while I had my doubts, these two put on a show in the third and fourth act that you can't really deny is epic.

The movie is your standard Texas Chainsaw fare, it just hs a bunch of teenagers lost in the woods, meeting up with a very ruthless family, about to get slaughtered. While that's the way this film goes, it does skimp out on the gore. This movie, for all intents and purposes is NOT as gorey as you would come to expect. However, if you watch the orginal film, (not the remake) you also notice that despite the naming convention of this series, it is not the most gorey franchise...until recent years.

The music selection was good, and it never really felt wasted, it felt spot on as the action unfolds. However, we get some sick sounds coming out of Leatherface, which I thought was definitely annoying. He not only seems a bit smaller, he screams and yells like a woman underneath the mask, and really doesn't add depth to the character.

The family and why they are there really gets no explanation, and there is some sick sexual tension going on. It almost feels like you're watching a Rob zombie film not another piece of the Texas Chainsaw franchise. Is Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation a Scary Film? : Yes.

There are some seriously scary moments in this film. I found that the third act had some scary points for those that are not interesting in S&M. At one pint McConaughey's character is choking Zellweger's character with his right hand and the camera doesn't seem to cut away and for the moments it's unfolding, it looks absolutely real. Like he's literally going to kill his costar, and that makes for some scary moments indeed. Obviously, you know it's a movie, but it gets into kink territory the way he treats her, as she is tied to a chair. The amount of intensity in the kitchen during this film really makes you nervous, especially if you have the sound up and the lights out.

The whole idea of getting lost in the woods in an era without cellphones, has to be a little scary. Especially the notion that no one can help you, even if you scream. The ending is another piece of scary film making, as one main character escapes only to get into a wreck and dragged back by Leatherface. This type of classic horror is not seen very often in the modern era of horror films. This one even threw out a pair of boobs for no apparent reason!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation is not the greatest horror film, and it's not my favorite of the series. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is my favorite, but this one isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, it had some great intensity at times, it had some sick moments, and despite this having to major stars of the future, it wasn't bad. I was thoroughly entertained, and liked it even more than say, The third film in the series: Leatherface. I recommend it, it's better than the prequel that came out recently, that's for sure.